760 III. ZINGIBBEACE^. 



Cannacea, properly so called, are chiefly natives of tropical and sub-tropical America, where they 

 replace Zingiberacea;, and when^they have spread throughout the hot parts of the Old World. 



Cannneete have in contrast with Zingiberacem no aromatic principles, but their rhizome abounds with 

 a nutritious starch. That of Maranta arundinacea (Arrowroot), cultivated in the West Indies, is 

 recommended for its digestibility. Its uncooked rhizome is acrid, rubefacient, salivatory, and is con- 

 sidered an antidote to the poison from the juice of the Manchineel, when applied to the wounded 

 surface. The leaves of M. lutea are covered on their under face with a resinous excretion, supposed to 

 be efficacious in dysuria. The tubers of M. Allomja, cooked and seasoned with pepper, are eaten iu 

 the Antilles. The root of Canna is reputed to be diuretic and diaphoretic. The seeds of several species 

 are considered substitutes for coffee, and yield a purple dye. 



III. ZINGIBER ACE JE. 



(ZiNGiBERACEiE, h.-G. Bichard. — SciTAMiNE^, Br. — Amome^, Jussieu. — 



Alpiniace^, Link.) 



Flowers g . Peeiat7TH and staminodes as in Cannaceaa. Stamen solitary, 

 anterior ; anthee 2-celled. Ovakt inferior, usually '6-celled ; ovules anatropous. 

 Feu IT usually a capsule. Seeds with 2 albumens, a farinaceous and a horny [vitellus). 

 Embeto with the cotyledonary end sheathed by the vitellus, the radicular free and 

 touching the hilum. — Heebs, with creeping or tuberous rhizome. Leaves as in 

 Canuaceae. 



Perennial heebs with a creeping or tuberous rhizome, rarely witli fibrous roots, 

 stemless, or stem simple, enveloped by the leaf-sheaths. Leayes all radical, or 

 alternate, simple ; petiole forming a split (very rarely closed) sheath, sometimes ligu- 

 late ; limb flat, entire ; midrib thick, giving off laterally numerous secondary simple 

 parallel oblique or transverse nerves. Flowees 5 , irregular, naked or bracteolate, 

 spiked, racemed or panicled, radical or terminal, often accompanied by spathaceous 

 bracts. Peeianth double, superior; outer {calyx) coloured or herbaceous, tubular, 

 entire or split like a spathe, 3-toothed or -fid ; inner {corolla) with a long or short 

 tube, 3-partite, divisions more or less unequal, the upper usually largest, cucuUate ; 

 staminodes petaloid, dissimilar, forming a 2-lipped tube adnate to the corolla-tube, 

 lower lip the largest. Stamen solitary, inserted at the base of the corolla-tube ; 

 filament free, usually dilated and petaloid, often prolonged beyond the anther ; anther 

 erect or incumbent, introrse ; cells distant, marginal. Ovaet inferior, 3- (rarely 1-2-) 

 celled, often surmounted by 1 or more staminodes ; ovules 1 or more in each cell, 

 2— several-seriate, inserted at the central angle of the cells, horizontal, anatropous. 

 Feuit crowned by the remains of the perianth, usually a loculicidally 3-valved 

 capsule, rarely irregularly ruptured or dehiscing by longitudinal slits. Seeds 

 usually numerous, sub-spherical or angular, arillate or not, testa cartilaginous ; 

 albumen farinaceous, absent near the hilum, interposed between the seed-coats and 

 a second homy albumen {vitellus), which is closed at the top opposite to the hilum, 

 and perforated at the base to allow of the passage of the radicle. Embeto 

 straight, sub-cylindric, axile, capped at the cotyledonary end by the vitellus ; radicle 



